Claude W. Smith III

Clay is my passion, and throwing, my form of meditation. I love making pots, whether functional, one-of-kind or sculptural. The creative act of making elevates the spirit of the maker to be enjoyed by the user.

The traditional vessel form began as serving a purpose in the kitchen or on the table. The functional vessel was designed and crafted for specific purposes. Crafted and designed hand-made tableware lifts the mundane act of eating three meals a day to a higher level. In my home, we utilize only hand-made dinnerware made by me, friends and former students. Personalities, friendships, and acquaintances are remembered and experiences reflected upon in our use of their vessels.

My joy may be personal, but I am aware of other potters who share my sentiments. Using the handmade object is both a blessing and a joy. The warmth, durability and artistic expression of the makers are shared with every meal or just a cup of tea.

The studio becomes my cathedral. Each act of creation is a form of prayer, a three-dimensional meditation. Sharing the experience with students is a rewarding profession, cherished by this potter/teacher, regardless of the end product.

As a young teenager vacationing in Minnesota, I enjoyed soloing in my canoe, exploring shallow pond-like lakes. Quietly paddling through the cattails, lily pads and tall marsh grasses in search of nesting ducks and song birds to photograph was just one of my objectives. Locating quiet pools to cast a small plug or flip a fly was my focus. The Marsh Series represents my efforts to recreate an impression of memories experienced years ago.

I utilize expressive brush stokes, minimal glazes and reduced (smoky) surfaces of the raku process to create implied ethereal landscapes of backwater lakes, streams and marshes. Natural representation is not the goal, but the implied spiritual memories documenting a place in time past, with impending atmospheric conditions, are the focus of my creative acts.

The Firing Process

The Raku process refers to a type of spontaneous low-firing glaze technique that originated with the Japanese potters. The firing technique was further modified by Paul Soldner in the early 1950s to include the post-firing reduction options. Western-style raku usually involves removing the clay form from the kiln while at red heat ( 1750 degrees F to 1850 degrees F) and placing the piece into containers with combustible material. The reduction atmosphere (combustion without the presence of oxygen) will then change glaze colors of the metallic oxides and create a smoky-gray to carbonized black negative surface. Combining both the oxidation and reduction atmosphere at the same time allows for even more surface variation.

The final visual statement is a poetic collaboration between the potter, the kiln and the post-firing processes. Going a step further, a post-firing painting technique with a torch is used, re-oxidizing the surface to further expose hidden marks produced in the reduction process.

The ancient folk potters of Japan, Germany and England were actually farmers during the growing months and potters during the winter seasons; similarly my inspiration draws upon seven decades of life and forty years of making vessels. By the grace of God seeing me through a series of medical episodes, I have been changed in the way I view life and employ the creative act and the process of making my pots.

My interest in saggar firing was rekindled in 2014.  Making platters/chargers out of porcelain, a pure white clay, and saggar firing them created a new series, “The Creation Series.”  Organic materials are arranged on the clay surface.  Salt-soaked alfalfa, sow pellets rolled in metallic salts, dehydrated fruits and nuts, and kaolin cookies provide a pallet upon which a non-objective approach to glazing is taken.  The platters are then placed in a saggar, a clay container which helps contain the organics, and provide a protective vessel into which additional combustible organic material may be placed under, over and between the two surfaces. Localized reduction and oxidization atmospheres within each saggar allow for differing results. The final surface may vary from a quiet ethereal landscape to a surface of climatic drama. Total collaboration between the potter and the kiln is achieved with gratifying and surprising results. The process becomes one educated gamble where one either wins big or loses. Taking risks makes the experimental result worth the gamble. The more one experiments, the more the educated experience leads the potter to success.